Poster Title

Author(s)

Faculty Sponsor, if applicable

Dr. Cecilia Martinez-Torteya

Project Abstract

Studies suggest children who experience trauma consistently demonstrate impairments in emotion recognition and regulation. Socioeconomic status (SES) also predicts variance in a child’s emotional knowledge (Bücker et. Al 2012). Deficits in emotion recognition are linked to the development of mental health problems. Yet few studies have focused on the role of SES in the link between trauma and emotion recognition. The current study examines the association between traumatic experiences and emotional knowledge in children, exploring the moderating role of socio-economic status. Participants include 76 caregiver-child dyads with children aged 2-5 years. Data was collected at several Head Start preschools in Chicago, IL. Caregivers completed a set of questionnaires and children completed in-person tasks, including the Affect Knowledge Test (Denham, 1986). It is hypothesized that a moderation effect will be found for SES, such that increased SES will lessen the strength of the association between traumatic experiences and accurate emotion recognition. A moderation analyses will be conducted using the SPSS PROCESS macro (Hayes, 2012). By furthering our understanding of the interrelationships between trauma, emotion recognition, and SES in children, we can be better able to develop and implement protective strategies for at-risk populations.